Lady Gaga's battle with 'negative thoughts'

Lady Gaga finds it difficult to write music when she gets caught up in "negative thoughts".

The 'Perfect Illusion' hitmaker is gearing up to release her eagerly-anticipated new album 'Joanne' - which is a tribute to her father's sister, who died from lupus when she was just 19 - and has explained she finds it hard to work when all she can think about is her "own trauma".

In an interview with The New York Times, the 30-year-old pop beauty said: "I get blocked by my own trauma sometimes.

"The darkness, the loop of negative thoughts on repeat, clamours and interferes with the music I hear in my head. When I'm making music, I can hear all the parts, all the instruments. I can hear what it should be."

While it is challenging for the 'Born This Way' singer to write about personal subjects, she says it's also important to find "clarity" and become mindful.

Talking about her writing process, she explained: "You start to get into a zone -- what I would also describe as a mindfulness. You have to be aware that there are unwanted things coming in, but there is clarity in there, too, and you have to find it."

Gaga - whose real name is Stefani Germanotta - previously explained that each of the tracks on her follow-up to 2014's 'Artpop' is personal to her.

She said: "I'm not sure I'd go into detail about it, but Joanne gave me strength to live the rest of the life she didn't get to have.

"I guess, I think, if I can heal one person, maybe I can heal two, five, ten million. If I could just heal my dad, then maybe [I] might heal someone else."

Meanwhile, the blonde beauty - who is well-known for her outrageous fashion sense - revealed she is keen for people to play closer attention to her lyricism on the new album, rather than paying attention to peripheral issues, like what she's wearing.

Gaga said: "It becomes about everything else, and that was what I [once] wanted. But if I wear a black T-shirt and black pants every day, [people] might listen to what I write."